Genealogy Chat

"Private" noted next to a baptism in church records can also simply mean the baptism is not for publication in the Church magazine. Illegitimate babies sometimes have private noted next to them.

My great-great-great-grandfather was baptised privately and later publicly; possibly it had been feared that he would not live so was baptised when very young.

Thanks everyone for your replies i do know that she and her sister who was born 2 years later but also sadly died shorly after birth are buried in the same grave with their grandparents so at least i know that.
Thanks again.
Sharmala.

Private baptism usually means that the child was not expected to live, and was baptised quickly so that he/she could be buried in the church cemetery.

I believe that anyone could conduct a private baptism in such an emergency .... nurse, midwife, family member, etc. ........ if the vicar/priest could not be there. I think somehting similar still applies today.


It was much more important to families in those days that someone be buried in the church graveyard rather than outside the boundary wall because they had not been baptised.


sylvia

Sharm, I'm no expert but 'private baptism' doesn't mean there was nobody in attendance. Just that it wasn't performed in a Church - probably at home because the child was not expected to live. There could have been any number of people present but it wasn't in Church i.e. 'public'.

M. Steer

hi joan
yes i have all the details from lancashire bmd thanks anyway it seems the baby was born in the 3rd quarter and died also in the same quarter.
i havent got her death cert so no idea what she died of ,it seems so sad as just 2 years later her second baby also died very young but that bap wasnt a private one.she did eventually marry but i havent found anymore children for her as yet.

yes, I'm sure Von is right.
Maybe the priest went to the house and the baptism entry would be made as usual.....only sad that the baby was so poorly...not because no one was there.

Is the birth registered, do you know....look on freebmd..or post the name and we can look...
Joan

hi
The babys bap says the address she was living at was the same address given in the 1891 census so that means she was still living with her parents at the time she was 18 and they were just ordinary working class folk
thankyou.

hi
My ggreataunt had a baby that was privatly baptised as a note was made against her bap record, i do believe this to be because the baby wasnt expected to live as one of the reasons which she didnt, she sadly died very shortly afterwards.
Now does this also mean that nobody else attended the baptism either? she was a single mother this was in 1891 it just seems so sad.any more reasons for this to happen in case i come accross anymore.
Thanks.